Forgotten
by Everfly
Summary: Sakura, fed up with the constant loneliness and heart break she felt in Konoha, leaves for good. Somehow manages to join the Akatsuki and ressurect the one and only Sasori. Being rewritten!
1. Author's note to you

HI! Another authors note? What? I know, I know.  
This isn't an update on the sequel so much as an update on this actual story. I'm nearly done with a fully re-written first chapter of Forgotten. I'm really excited about it, actually. But I really just _can't_ leave this story be. I'm too afraid to _think_ of reading it I know it's so bad. It will be made into a much better story. Same plot, more explanations.

How on earth have I gotten so many lovely reviews? You people are too nice.

Soon I'm going to delete every chapter on here and begin replacing them, leaving this note.

I don't see how, exactly, but I hope none of you will be disappointed by the changes coming into play.

I love you all,

Everfly


	2. Family

It was raining, when she was running away. Running away from that village which seemed to never stop damning her very existance.

There were quick footsteps sloshing through the mud close behind her. "Sakura-chan!" said a voice from whom those footsteps belonged to. "You can't leave! You can't leave Konoha and you can _not_.. you can't leave me!"  
It was a sudden decision to leave. Sakura hadn't thought about it at all. It was only when she realized that she didn't particularily enjoy the wrinkles settling into her forehead from them constantly being knit together out of worry and sadness that she decided she didn't need that anymore. It wasn't right.

It had been getting better. The last year had been pretty damned bearable, being with Naruto. But no. He didn't have time for a relationship anymore, with striving to become the Hokage.

Of course not. Why would someone have time for someone like her? Demanding and selfish. Horrible, worthless...

"Sakura-chan!"  
Said girl started running faster, ignoring the fact that she winced when Naruto called her name. Sakura did her best to ignore his ever-so distinguishable voice and concentrate on how dark and grey the dead trees looked when they blurred by her quickly. How if she ran fast enough it looked like the rain was actually stars that were hitting her face.

Then she was thrown back into the air. Was Naruto growling? Did he rip the back of her shirt? "God damn it." Sakura sighed as she awkwardly poked her fingers at the middle of her back, feeling bare flesh. "You didn't have to rip it." she mumbled in a tone that sounded like she'd given up the point of the sentence half-way through, and started walking away. Just walking. She didn't dare look back to see if he was coming at her. The look on Naruto's face would be broken. First Sasuke, now her. What did they expect, though? _Everyone_ treating her like crap.  
_'Good job,'_ she thought towards herself as she started jumping down the moss covered rocks, pacing herself to get to the lush valley below. _'You haven't blamed anyone else in a while!' _Who knew leaving would help so quickly?

That's when she started to ignore everything that she could. She ignored the rain as it was getting colder and colder from night fall. Ignored the slight tiredness in her feet from running for the past two hours. The broken cry that sounded through the dead forest that got quieter and quieter.

Colder and colder.

Quieter and quieter.

Feeling less and less.

Sakura didn't remember any dreams she may have had when she woke up in a musky, damp room in what she presumed was the next morning. She still had her wet clothes on and there was someone knocking at the door. Her emotions told her that she was 'annoyed'. Haha.

"Yes?"  
"Do you need your bed changed, fresh towels or anything, miss?"  
Figuring she might as well be normal to people as to not arouse suspicion, Sakura went to the door and opened it with a smile. Not before quickly using a transformation jutsu to alter her appearance. Technically she was a fugitive now, after all. "Hello. Do you have any bath robes I could wear while my clothes dry?" she tried to sound as friendly as possible.

The small older woman smiled and handed her a soft, white and fluffy robe from the folded stack of them on her metal supply cart.

And Sakura's day went on.

After she showered and ate a complimentary breakfast, she put back on her sandals, grabbed her bag and left, changing out of her transformation when no one was around. She was in River Country now. When did she leave the Fire Country? Her mind only went blank at attempted remembrance. Oh well. She had just decided to give in to her childish wants to walk through one of the many giant rivers that led to nowhere when she noticed a gigantic, bird-shaped shadow passing over her and the river. It went too quickly. When she turned around it was already too far into the distance so that even her kunoichi-trained eyes could barely make out the strange white thing. It did look like there were people on it. Two people wearing red and black coats.

Sakura knew what that was. But the strangest part was that she didn't immediately turn hateful to what they were. They weren't her enemies now. In fact, she couldn't give a damn. Maybe, she couldn't give a damn.  
Was a damn being given? _No,_ couldn't be. It couldn't be that that long black coat with the red artsy clouds seemed... _inviting._  
And yet, something had her on her feet, running through the calm river that flowed up to her ankles right in the same direction that clay bird went. They would be long gone by now, but, maybe that blonde girly-looking man would blow something up! That'd be easy to track.

Why was she going, though? Sure they seemed inviting but, who said they'd take her. She wasn't a killer by any means or a psychopath. Maybe they'd just kill her. She supposed it didn't sound too horrible. Blowing up could be fun. It didn't take her long at all to find them, as, predicted before... he blew something up.  
"Senpai... what'd you do that for?" Sakura heard as she approached the green forest, the ground dry with dirt and green leaves, weaving through the trees and closer to the criminals.  
"I didn't do it on purpose, un." That's Deidara.  
"Yes you did!" a low yet childish voice laughed. And that would be Tobi, Sakura noted to herself.

She started walking towards them, a little hopeful. Something snapped infront of her face and then another something blew up in the same place. A very tiny explosion, but with just enough force to make her fall backwards on to her butt.

She shook her head, temporarily blinded and dizzy, sighing.  
"Pinkie?" Deidara questioned, "Where's the others, though? Although I suppose with considering how you _don't_ look angry beyond all reason I shouldn't be too worried, un."  
Sakura nodded. "I left." she informed him, staying seated on the leafy forest floor, there was a twig poking into her back, too.  
Tobi was automatically curious. "Really? Why? Were they mean to you?"  
Such a kid. "So to speak, I guess. Some things you just need to get away from forever."  
Deidara eased up a bit and stepped closer when he saw her blindess, but he would still be on guard. "And may I ask why you decided to seek out two dangerous criminals and enough C4 to blow you sky-high? Un."  
She tilted her head, pondering the question herself. Her vision was coming back a bit and she looked at his face. It didn't look angry or defensive, so, why lie? "I figure I may as well attempt to do something with my newly found criminal aspects."  
That made Deidara snort in amusement.  
Sakura huffed. "Or get myself killed. Why not?"

Deidara sighed and looked at her, attempting to remember any information about her. She was strong enough to kill his Danna. Sakura Haruno, an S-rank level kunoichi with barbaric strength, skill and world-class healing. And Deidara had no healers in his family. Sakura was actually worth considering to him.  
"She seems fine to me!" Tobi told his senpai happily. Deidara ignored him.

"Okay, un." He looked straight at her and raised his visible eyebrow. "I'll take you in to be considered."  
Sakura felt her chapped lips crack a bit as she smiled for the first time in ages.

Deidara only found her cocky with that, but, she seemed happy enough not to ruin the mood. "I'm going to have to knock you out, though, un."  
"What?"  
And then everything went black.

_This _time she dreamed vividly. A lot of her past mixed in with strange quirks and actions that made no sense... it made her think, when she was regaining consciousness slowly, that her life, as it was now, kind of was like a dream. It didn't make sense and she was doing things that did make sense. That's what dreams usually were. And you'd always be surprised when you did find yourself to have a normal, make-sense dream. Those were the boring dreams, though. Those weren't the dreams Sakura wanted to have. And so she chose not to.  
Her eyes opened a bit and she quickly took in her surroundings out of habit. It was quite a unique place and actually rather beautiful considering it was constructed out of cement, stairs twisting everywhere and anywhere. She was high up enough to see a small cluster of buildings in the distance, but it led on until she couldn't see anymore over a ledge of the building. This would be a very high tower in a very large city. That's interesting. She wanted to move up to see over that ledge and look down and maybe see the people as little ants.  
Sakura _wanted_ to, but couldn't move for her life. She felt sluggish and rather achey. And probably would have fallen off of the step she appeared to be sitting on and straight on to her face, if there wasn't an arm pulling her up and closer to the body that belonged to it. "It's okay, I've got you."  
Sakura blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked next to her, a tiny bit surprised when she found her looking straight at a bright orange mask, the shape of it twisting to the one hole left for an eye. "Tobi."  
"You're all set, un." said a voice from her other side. Long blonde hair flew into Sakura's face as a gust of wind blew towards them. "Pein said you could be needed and then told us to welcome you."

Was it really that simple? Just see her _while she was sleeping _and give approval just like that? Was there no test or initiation or... at least an interview? "There is a task he wants you to do. A pretty big one, un." There it was.

She cleared the frog out of her throat and blinked a couple more times before looking at Deidara. "Which is?" he only shrugged in response.

It surprised her when he smacked her on the back and smiled at her, and Tobi's arm tightened around her shoulders lightly. "Welcome!"

The day was weird, to say the least. After heading into what was her new home, she felt comfortable and strangely welcomed. Tobi, ever the optimist, gave her a tour of the place. It was dark and a bit damp. the walls were cement and the floor alternated between wood and stone within the many rooms. Her room had two beds and simple shelves and flooring for whatever she may have brought with her. Which was nearly nothing. When Sakura left her village she grabbed her worn bag with whatever was left in it from her last mission and bolted. Probably a few different kinds of nutrition pills and some scrolls and medical supplies. At some point she must have put her forehead protecter in there as well because the top of her head felt a little lighter. She didn't bother looking and just threw her bag onto her bed.

It was a strangely normal place. And that's what made it weird. The people she passed in the hall seemed fine with her presence. All people she had seen in her small book of criminals. A couple of them said 'hey', others nodded and one even smiled at her. On Sakura's personal tour she found quite a few laughing and talking with each other, some rough housing with each other.  
"They're more like a family than a group of criminals..." Sakura thought out loud.  
Tobi nodded and laughed quietly. He seemed quite happy just to be there when he spoke of the place and its residents. She _did_ have to remember that they were all criminals and they really might just kill her if she screwed up anything. Like the unknown task she was about to do at god knows when. She wanted to ask but Deidara, who didn't seem to know anyway, left at some point when the living area was shown. Something told her she'd be staying close to Tobi and the blonde explosive man.

The day drawled on awkwardly for Sakura. She was shown the library and found Deidara in there. Tobi pointed to the medical section before disappearing. She only stood there quietly, peeking at Deidara once in a while as he read some thick fiction book.  
Finally he looked right back at her, "What is it? Un."  
Sakura sighed and sat down in a chair across from him. It had been bothering her as soon as she realized that they were a family. She helped kill Deidara's partner. "I..." she swallowed, "want to apologize."  
That took him off guard. He took a few seconds to think it through and then laughed, "Don't! You don't go in to a fight looking to live, un. Danna was an emotionless..." he trailed off for a second before shaking his head "cocky puppeteer who was fighting against you as well. One of you would survive and only one. It was you and I hold nothing against you for that, un."  
Sakura took Deidara's words in and relaxed a bit in relief. "I'm glad you don't hate me, then."  
"You amuse me greatly, and you seem to get along with Tobi. Someone other than me needs to keep him at bay once in a while, un."  
She laughed for the first time in what seemed like ages. Deidara smiled with her.  
She was looking through a shelf of forbidden medical technique books, pondering as to how she got here in just a few days and why she was so comfortable with it all, when she heard a low voice call for her. It wasn't Deidara's. When she rounded the corner she was surprised to see a man with brightly colored orange hair, and more piercings on his face than she thought possible. "Hello," she greeted cautiously. Sakura hadn't seen _his_ face in the criminal book before.

He nodded to her. "I'm Pein." he told her. She wasn't used to the formality. Everyone else she'd met today just greeted her like it was any old day at a cafeteria. "And I do suppose you're curious as to what task I would like you to do."  
Sakura's eyebrows raised and she nodded. Deidara came to stand right next to her as if it was his job. His back was completely straight.  
"You're going to bring a previous member of the Akatsuki back to life."  
That surely stopped her in her tracks, and Deidara as well. He stiffened beside her.

What? Her eyes wandered away from Pein and to the dusty wooden flooring as she thought this question through. "How?" she finally asked.  
"There are many ways to do it. All forbidden in the shinobi world, of course, but... as you might have noticed I'm not that opposed to that which is. The easiest way is what you will be doing."  
Doing, not trying. Noted.  
"You will not be doing this on your own but you will need to give it your all." Pein walked over to her and held out his empty hand toward her. A scroll appeared in a puff of smoke. The scroll, thick as ever, held the most interesting designs along the edges. The woven designs seemed to be glowing ever so slightly. Sakura took it and nodded. "Read it all." Pein told her.  
She looked up from the scroll and found he was gone. Deidara was looking closely at the scroll held up in her hands, a questioning look on his face. "How..?" he shook his head and took his place back in his thinly cushioned chair, picking his book back up and began reading again, but the look never left his face.  
Sakura sat across from him once again and began studying the scroll. It was no where near boring. It began with teaching a way of channeling chakra that she didn't even know was possible. She played around with the technique with her fingertips, a nearly white colored chakra seemed to be flowing from her hand. It looked like see-through snow was falling upwards from her hand. Once she was done examining it she went back to the scroll. Channeling chakra, restoring the body, the mind, the soul and then life.  
This would be _very_ interesting.  
And it was. After Sakura read and memorized the scroll, she began channeling all of her chakra that way and kept doing so. And she learned somewhere in that scroll that this proccess could take days to complete. There was no turning back, either, as the scroll would be used in the technique. There was no practicing with a bird or fish and there was no stopping after one started. If you stopped before completion, the technique would use all of the life force of those who preformed it.

"Do or die," Sakura thought aloud once again. Deidara ruffled her hair after that.

It wasn't by any means comforting, but she wasn't scared. In fact she felt important. She didn't feel useless or a horrible person here. She was needed. And even though this was on the worst means neccesary, as she was now becoming one of a group of the biggest enemies against the world... she felt helpful. Good.

Meals were given at certain times, but the kitchen was open. You could sleep when you wanted to and unless you had certain priorities, you did what you wanted as well. There was a library, a living area, a training area and two relaxation areas on the floor of the tower that they used. All of the members' personal rooms were one floor up. It was a simple situation and easy to get used to in the two free days she had before preforming the task. Deidara and Tobi kept her company often and she began to accept the hugs Tobi was so willing to give. Deidara was forced to get in on a hug once, but didn't seem to mind too much and Sakura was relieved to find him getting comfortable around her. But that made her wonder, "Why don't you think I'm a spy?"  
Deidara tilted his head and pondered his explanation as he looked at her. Leaning back in his chair in the library, which they both went to each day, he began to speak, "Well, for one; they all have a certain attitude about them that's too easy to spot. They're so hesitant about things and are over-friendly. You accepted the task Pein gave you without thinking against it at all. You sleep at night, you actually laugh and seem _happy_, un." he stopped now, wondering if he should say any more. "And you... were important to the Leaf's Hokage, un?"  
Sakura blinked in remembrance, as if she'd forgotten her shishou completely. As if that was ages ago. She nodded slowly.  
"Then you'd be too important to send in just to get killed, un. Why send one of the best medical nin to spy on enemies by yourself when that isn't your gig?"  
She nodded again and exhaled the breath she'd been holding in. "I guess you do have a good point." She smiled, "And another question, why do you say _un_ so much?"  
He smiled back at her, holding up a hand that was sticking its tongue out at her and waving it a bit, "What _ever _do you mean? **Un.**"

But smiles wouldn't last long after the nervousness that evening settled in down to her bones. She was about to do it.

Sakura was about to ressurect Sasori of the Red Sand.

A/N: See? I told you more explanations. And to those of you who were asking questions; I'm so sorry I didn't see any of those! I was very honestly _scared_ to look at my reviews. I knew this story was so horrible and I take criticism very horribly. But knowing exactly how this story goes, I'm writing faster than ever. The sequel will come soon after this and I'm saving all of the old chapters in case enough of you for some reason want that story. I hope you like this!  
You are my inspiration, reviewers and followers. I really do love you all.


	3. Connection

A/N: This isn't set in either manga nor anime world. Really old world, if you must. I started writing this story before anyone but Sasori was dead and went from there. And, well, what's the point of updating any death counts, you know? Wouldn't be the same story at all.  
Also I do not and never will watch the American version of the anime.  
Dattebayo!

It seemed like it should be a simple proccess, considering Sakura memorized the instructions in the scroll to rewrite the damned thing. She kept pacing back and forth in four small steps in front of the empty room her and two others would be preforming the jutsu in. Deidara had sat down against a wall near her to keep watch. Pein said she'd need someone with her as much as possible until her task was complete and she was assigned a partner. Deidara didn't mind at all. He actually enjoyed her as a friend. Sakura wasn't clingy or loud like Tobi was and sure as hell wasn't as much of an idiot.

"Who do you think the other person will be? To help me do it. I have to say I'm really rather relieved that you'll be there. Will Pein be watching? Will everyone else be there?" Her words came out at a million miles an hour with her nerves basically throbbing with worry.

Deidara, chuckling quietly at the girl shook his head, "No one else will be there but you, me and Itachi. If Pein's going to watch then he'll be doing it from somewhere else, un."  
Sakura nodded through the entire sentence, keeping her eyes on her feet as she kept her pace.  
"You heard that, right?" Deidara watched her closely as she paced. "Sakura? Un." she stopped then.  
"Wait, Itachi?" Sakura turned around and stared at Deidara with a look on her face that was _made_ of four different kinds of confusion.  
He chuckled again, "Why is that so surprising to you?"  
"Well," she attempted to start, but just sat down next to Deidara against the wall and closed her eyes to think.  
He nudged her. "Well?"  
She sighed, "Sasuke... was just Hell-bent on murdering that man. And for some reason, after him having left for more power _just_ to kill him, I kind of just didn't see him alive anymore after all of this time."  
Deidara thought it through and nodded. "I guess I see what you mean. But I don't think Itachi will be leaving us any time soon. Especially at the hands of his little brother."  
Sakura studied his face. He _definitely_ knew something she didn't. She shook her head from the thought. Everyone here probably knew more than she did. Maybe one day she could know that much. She learned an entirely new technique of chakra control by one scroll. She had an entire library though, and that was making her get lost in thought.

A finger was snapping infront of her face. "Sakura, un!"  
She snapped back to reality and sat up straight. "Yes! What?"  
Deidara gestured infront of them, nodding his head to a tall man with black hair and the red eyes that were quite familiar to Sakura. He walked forward across the dark stone hallway to her and held out his hand, "Sakura,"  
Sakura took his hand automatically to shake it. "Hello Itachi-" she let out a small squeak as he pulled her up on her feet, holding her steady.  
Itachi bent forward to look straight into her eyes.  
Deidara stood up and put an arm on her shoulder, "Don't, Itachi. She's not a spy or anything, un."  
Itachi, steady as ever, kept looking into her green eyes that couldn't stop blinking. "I understand that. I'm just looking to see something important."  
Sakura could only splutter out random syllables before the red eyes with the black marks in them looked away from hers. She watched him as he let go of her arm and walk away into the room.  
Deidara patted her back and started walking the same way, shaking his head and sighing. "Sorry about that, un."  
She followed him slowly, "What... was he doing, exactly?" she was a little wary of the fact that she may be in an illusion.  
"Gaining information, un."  
She shrugged it off and entered the room after Deidara. It was quite bare. White walls, no windows. The door disappeared after it was closed. Deidara sat across from Itachi. But inbetween the two, which honestly scared her a bit, was a red-haired puppet. His eyes were open and his body was sprawled out abnormally, entirely stripped of the clothes she remembered him wearing on his lower half when she battled him to the death with his grandmother. He had obviously been restored of all of the cracks and cuts he'd received in said fight. Sasori looked smooth and brand-new. His face was all pretty again.

Just another thing Sakura had to keep from thinking of. _The only thing you'll be thinking of,_ she told herself,_ is the proccess to restore the body first. _His cylinder heart had been placed just next to his head, sitting atop of the long, un-rolled scroll that was folded to be a rectangle that captured the length and width of his body.  
Sakura took a deep breath and then sat by the puppet so his red hairs were tickling her bare knees and picked up the black heart, careful not to touch or damaged what appeared to be red-purple _veins_ twisting out of it, placed it to the hole in the puppet's chest, and began the technique. Both Deidara and Itachi joined her at the same time in channeling their chakra into the scroll. The light that was falling from them seemed brighter than the pure white walls that surrounded them.  
She slowly began pushing the cylinder heart into his chest until her palm was flat against it, and kept her hand there. The strangest thing to her, was when she noticed the hard, wooden skin seemed to turn softer and warmer. The texture was becoming more and more skin-like, making Sakura's palm sweat against it. She didn't take her hand away, nor did she move. She would not stop until this proccess was entirely complete.  
"Sakura," Itachi's low, quiet voice called, "It's nearly time to begin preforming the next step."  
How much time had passed...? When Sakura moved her free hand over the other, she noticed how stiff and achey it was. For a kunoichi trained to deal with long periods of stillness or complete lack of, this must have been a whole day and a half of this. Her eyes drooped the littlest bit at this realization.

But they all powered through, of course. Completing step after step. Sakura was a bit excited for the last step, as she noticed the last bit of his soul swirling into the fully-flesh body, his heart beat was becoming stronger and stronger, and his blood ran through his body faster than a normal person's should. After that ended, she switched her hands once again, something strange happened again, and the flow of the chakra seemed seemed to be now going into her skin and pooling just around her finger tips, leaving Sasori's entire body glowing. She felt weird, though. Like something was pulling at her ability to breathe and cutting off her mind. She started to pant.  
"Sakura, are you okay? Un." Deidara sounded concerned.  
Like hell she could tell, what with the more she tried to pour her chakra into it, the more she felt like she was dying. "May.." she took the longest breath she could, "maybe." And as Sakura kept herself steady, she looked around to see what was happening. Deidara and Itachi's chakra hadn't changed at all. The white snow-fall chakra continued flowing out of them, while hers seemed to be being sucked in by Sasori, making the room seem brighter than ever with his white glow. His white glow, that seemed to be capturing Sakura's fingertips and started crawling up her arm, rendering whatever the light touched unable to move, and make her skin seem like the brightest of lights. It hurt her eyes, even. It was getting harder and harder to think and she was starting to feel numb when her sight began getting blurry.  
And the last thing she remembered was the sound of something crashing, and that light quickly fading to dark.

Sakura dreamt. Of the time she was a hard-determined kunoichi for the Leaf, chasing after the Akatsuki to retrieve the Kazekage from them, people dying in that process. About how she fought with Sasori and how she felt like she couldn't move in that dream because his puppet strings were restricting her. He wasn't even making her move, just kept her tied down while he smirked at her. In the back of her mind, somewhere, she knew she was dreaming, and that part of her mind had so many questions.

_Will he hate me?_ Will he kill me? _Will he be the same? _ What did I just do in the first place?  
She seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper into her dream world when something shook her awake gently, noting her eyelids felt a little crusty when she opened them. Sakura groaned quietly at the pain in her joints.  
"You finally awake, un?" asked Deidaras familiar voice, she could feel his breath on her forehead.  
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat from the unusedness and attempted to take in her surroundings, "In a hospital...?" she mumbled.  
"No, un. Just the infirmary of the tower. You've been resting a while, un." he sounded farther away.  
After a minute, her mind finally clicked about what had happed the last she was conscious. "What _did_ happen, Deidara?" she could hardly remember any of the last process. It was still hard to think.  
Deidara settled down in his chair next to her bed that he'd brought in from the library. She couldn't tell if it was because he's supposed to be guarding her or just being nice. "Well, the whole thing took about three days. It was weirdly hard to notice, un." he ran his fingers through his long blonde hair tiredly as he spoke, "At the end, with the last step, things got kinda weird and it looked like you and Danna were channeling your chakras together. Then the chakra expanded, encircled you two, and, well, blew a hole in the roof, un." he stated plainly.  
So _that's_ what that crashing noise was. Sakura closed her eyes again as bits and pieces of memory came back to her. "And Sasori? Did... he make it?" she held her breath for the answer.  
Deidara leaned back and reached behind him, grabbing a curtain and pulling aside noisily, showing another bed with a sleeping man in it.  
Sakura looked him over carefully. He seemed healthy, and he was breathing. "He's not a puppet anymore," she spoke to herself, "has he been examined?"  
Deidara shrugged. "Pein did, yes. He seemed fine, apparently and will just be sleeping. No coma or anything, un."  
She was relieved for some reason, and sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to jump down and examine him herself. She couldn't help but be curious. It never would have occurred to her that she'd be so weak. Usually, after long missions and sleeping two or three days, her strength rejuvinated with ease and she was able to go about her day at the training grounds to block everyone but the training dummy she had to act against out of her life.

No, as soon as Sakura stood up, she fell straight to the floor. Or would have if Deidara hadn't caught her arm and held her up. "You okay? Un."  
Was she okay? No! She's weaker than a genin. Her legs were shaking and she was panting for some reason. Sakura was annoyed with herself. At least she'd learned not to snap at people anymore. There was no point.

"You need to go back to bed, un." He sighed worriedly and started moving her back towards her bed.

She would have protested if she could, being too weak to push him off and walk the seven feet from her bed to Sasori's. Sakura huffed, "I want to examine him."  
Deidara smiled at the poutiness. "You can later. You need nutrition and rest. Don't be a kid, un." he chuckled.

She just glared at the pillow she was being moved closer to.  
Days had passed, Deidara stayed with Sakura nearly the whole time apart from running to get her food and when she left for the bathroom. Her strength was returning slowly and she could walk, slowly, but she was still far too weak by any fighting standards. And it was when she was laying back in her bed, drawing on a paper pad that Deidara gave her, that they heard stirring from Sasori's bed.

Someone groaned.  
"Danna?" Deidara rushed to his former partner's bedside, "Sasori no Danna? Are you awake? Un."

Sakura watched patiently from behind her pad. Needless to say that nervous feeling from before she brought him back to life was there and stronger than ever, she was a little scared, too.  
Sasori groaned again and turned over, opening his brown eyes for the first time and staring up at Deidara. "What?" his eyes widened more.  
It was strange for Sasori. It had been dark for so long. It had been grey and dull for so very, _very _long. When he looked up at his young partner he was struck speechless just by the colors. Not to mention the fact that he damn well _knew_ he died. That's why it'd been dark. He at least felt comfortable wherever he was. Peaceful. No real thoughts would occur and no memories to have to deal with. In fact, he didn't remember much around the time he died. He remembered the boy who had his old puppets and that he stole the sand boy with Deidara. And his grandmother. His grandmother... yes. She killed him. He knew he was dead. "Why was I brought back to life?"  
Deidara was a bit surprised with his Danna's first words. He watched Sasori look at his own hand and stretch his fingers. "You were needed, un." How else could he answer? "I'm glad to have you back, though. Un."  
Sasori looked at him for a second then back to his fingers, not answering him. "Who did this? And what technique did you use?" he stretched and sat up, moving his feet to the floor and remaining sitting on the bed.  
"Me, Itachi and Sakura. We used the grey scroll, un."  
Sasori had no recollection of the last name. He'd read the scroll and had very little knowledge of the consequences. "Who's Sakura?" he looked back to Deidara raising his eyebrows.  
Deidara had the strangest look on his face when he pointed to the girl just a few feet away from them. Sakura seemed to be curled in a ball, sitting on her pillow and clutching her drawing pad.  
_Will he try to kill me once he realizes it's me? _she thought nervously, taking short shallow breaths.  
He looked her over, taking a few seconds to be distracted at the magnificent colors of her pink hair and light green eyes before speaking. "Thank you for the trouble then, I guess." he grumbled something after and ran his fingers through his short crimson hair. "I suppose you already know I'm Sasori. And I take it you've joined the Akatsuki recently. You look a little scared." and he didn't want her to be scared, for some bizarre reason. He felt _emotion_ for this strangely and beautifully colored girl. The _hell?_ "What village are you from?"  
_Wait... does that mean he doesn't remember? Or that he just doesn't care..? _She looked to his eyes for the answer. They had no acknowledgement in them and seemed quite relaxed with the situation, which made her relax a bit, too. "Yes, I've... just joined." she took a deep breath, "You were my first task here that Pein gave me. I'm from Konoha."  
Deidara raised his eyebrow at their exchange. Sasori seemed more sincere than he used to be. His Danna didn't remember his little kouhai at all. But how did he remember that he died. It must have had something to do with the light that seemed to have joined the both of them. He shook his head from the thought and decided to leave them be. "I'll go get you two some food, un." He didn't mind always getting her food for some reason. She was always incredibly happy with it for some reason. And said thank you and sorry. Maybe no one ever did anything for her. He let his mind wander as he left for the kitchen.  
Sakura looked at Sasori awkardly. He was looking straight into her eyes. Just staring, not saying anything or hinting anything. "W-what?" she dared ask.  
He blinked and looked away. "Not used to colors." He stated matter-of-factly.  
Her mind was elsewhere though. "Can you walk? I can't really yet." she was getting irritated with herself again. "It's been days and I'm still like this." she waved her pad around with her hand a little shaky, glaring at it.  
Sasori snorted a laugh, but by the time she turned her head to look, he was back to his sober, un-smiling expresssion.  
Sakura put her pad down. She was rambling. She was comfortable and... _content_ enough to ramble. That hadn't happened in years.  
"What are you smiling for?" he asked, curious at her sudden change in expression.  
Only just then was her smile noticeable to her. She simply shook her head.  
Sasori decided then to change subjects, walking over to her and sitting on her grey-themed bed, "And you're the one who preformed the technique? Not just helped with chakra control?"  
She nodded as she watched him move closer. "Why?"  
"Wondering what the consequences are. You can't bring something or _someone_ fully back to life like this without consequences." he tilted his head looking at her. "It may be why you're so weak." Why was he talking so much? And no one knows what possessed him, to next touch his fingers to the top of her hand.  
She jumped, for it felt like static electricity, but didn't move further. She felt her strength come back as he touched her.  
He felt a part of his leave, though. Not too weak. He didn't like it, though, so he took his hand away. Though, unexpectedly, this caused her to sway, and fall backwards onto her pillow, her eyes nearly closed, breathing unevenly.  
"Are you alright?" he noted how he was a bit concered. How he even _sounded_ concerened.  
Deidara then set a large tray of food down onto the table inbetween the too beds and rushed back to Sakura, taking her wrist and checking her pulse with what little knowledge he knew of the medical art. "What happened? Un... her pulse is way too slow."  
Sasori took a while before he answered, speculating. Then he remembered something he'd read in the scroll. "I think, when she brought me back to life, she gave me a _lot_ of her own life. Most of it, probably. And when I touch her, it connects us both. It doesn't bode well when I stop touching her though." Sasori went and sat back on his bed, staying away from her. He didn't want her to look or feel like that again.

Deidara sighed and sat back in his chair inbetween the beds. "Eat your food, un. Sakura, can you hear me? Are you even awake? Un."  
"Don't tell me what to do, brat." Sasori grumbled, taking a warm half-loaf of bread.  
Deidara ignored him and looked to Sakura to answer. "Sakura? Un."

She nodded slowly, looking a bit confused. "I'll be fine in a few." she whispered.  
When Deidara tried to give her any food, he noticed she'd just fallen asleep. He sighed.  
"You seem to care a lot about her." Sasori said, awkwardly chewing his food. He hadn't eaten in decades.  
"She's easy to like, un." Deidara relaxed back in his seat, looking up at the wooden ceiling, counting how many knots were in it. "Sakura just kinda fit in here with me and Toby."  
Sasori stayed silent. _Toby was the one to take my place? The annoying kid who wanted into the Akatsuki? _He scoffed, bread crumbs flying out of his mouth as he forgot he was eating. His tastebuds were screaming though. In a good way. This was one of the few things he missed about his human body. Sasori took another mouthful.

Sakura woke up after a few hours and seemed to have her strength back to where it was before that strange occurrence. Sasori didn't talk as much with her today, but she found him looking at her quite often. Especially when she was drawing. It stayed like that the few days she remained in the infirmary. Finally she had gotten enough strength back and was allowed to leave and go to her room that she had yet to get accustomed to.  
Sasori almost enjoyed the quiet. He was brought one of the unfinished puppets they'd saved for him to work on while he was kept in the infirmary for examination. He enjoyed it until he had gotten a strange feeling. He felt more and more strength returning to him. And he was strong enough anyway. That wasn't good at all...  
Something had him on his feet, throwing his puppet aside and running out of the door in an instant. He ran down the few halls and turned corners, almost falling a few times from being freshly human with unused muscles, until he found the staircase Deidara and Sakura were walking up.  
And he just so happened to run fast enough and make it to catch her when she nearly crashed into the floor from falling from the stairs, sliding on his knees, with Deidara only just turning to look to see where she'd disappeared to.  
Sasori held her up in his arms, completely out of breath as he checked her health. She was colder than she should be, and hardly breathing. Entirely unconscious. He glared up at the blonde man running down the stairs to the both of them. "I thought you were supposed to watch her."  
Deidara had a defensive look in his face, "I was! She was just fine until now, un!" he glared right back, annoyed.

Sasori ignored him and stood up with Sakura, carrying her and was surpised at how easy it was to do so. He descended up the stairs and looked to Deidara for directions, as he had followed Sasori.  
The blonde artist grumbled something with an _un, _and walked ahead and into her room. The floor boards creaked as they entered the room, Sasori placing her on her bed and sitting next to her. "Should have gone with you," he said quietly, "then this wouldn't have happened."  
Deidara stared at the wooden walls near the painted green door and thought about it. "'Cause... you have a connection, un? Her life is some how tied to yours." he sat down on the other bed across from Sasori as he spoke, now staring at Sakura.  
Sasori was afraid to let go of her hand. What if she lost her life entirely? For some reason he'd actually cared if she died. He _hated _emotions. _God damn it. _"I've thought about it the last few days, and now I see that I'm the only thing keeping her alive right now. If she gets too far away from my life force, she gets too far from her own. And... thus... it leaves her body entirely." Sasori sighed. "Looks like I'm her new partner, then."

A/N: I honest to god had no idea where to end it. That felt the best, sorry if it's weird. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll start working on the next chapter tomorrow!


	4. Things build up

A/N: I may mix in a little bit of a love triangle. Not a real big or serious one, just a little bit where it gives a little more story. Don't worry, Sasori's the main man no matter what.

Sasori sighed as he flipped through the pages to Sakura's drawing pad that he'd found. She was a beautiful artist. That is, he means to say, she's an artist who draws beautiful art. Well of course she's beautifu- no. _Not what I mean!_ He groaned and leaned forward, resting his head against the smooth paper, getting pencil smudges on his forehead. After a few minutes of silence of both thought and vibration, he laughed at his own mess-ups he seemed to be getting in his head recently. A human brain, human emotions. He could feel his own hot blood streaming through his veins for the first time in decades. Sasori was human again. He wasn't forever, anymore. He would certainly not be art to anyone. That's when he was proved wrong, though.

After flipping through Sakura's art carelessly, he didn't even realize that the picture his forehead was smudging was one of himself. He was sleeping peacefully, his arm strewn over his head and his mouth hanging open slightly. He marveled at the shading, perfectly done in different dark-to-light ratios.  
A pink-haired someone groaned a few feet aside from him.  
Sasori's head turned so fast he nearly hurt his neck when Sakura caught his attention. "Sakura?"  
She churned, tangled in her grey and white blankets. Sakura had been asleep for quite some time. Three days, to be exact. It was definitely enough time for Sasori to get used to his new dull room he shared with her. It was damp in places and his bed always seemed _cold_. And he still can't figure out what possessed him to put his thicker blanket over the exotically colored girl. _Don't want her to catch a cold,_ he thought. He then stammered mentally, _Because I'd catch one, too. _ He tried telling himself.  
Sasori sighed, Sakura seemed to mumble.  
"What was that..?"  
Sakura huffed softly and untucked her nose from her arm, resting her head on her wrist as she lay stomach-down on her warmer bed. Her eyes opened a crack, "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.  
Sasori almost wanted to smile at her morning-self. He generally woke up after she did when they shared the room in the infirmary. "Nothing at all. How are you feeling?"  
She looked at her surroundings, noting the darkness, how she would hardly have been able to make out Sasori's face if she hadn't had a well-trained eye. "Okay," she tried pushing herself up, and cursed as her arms shook a bit and she fell back onto the surprisingly soft bed, back onto her frontside. "This sucks."

Sasori couldn't help but frown. "You know, it could just be from having slept for the past seventy-five hours. That kind of does things to your limbs," he said, trying to lighten her mood.

The frown fell off of her lips and Sakura found herself staring at him while she'd gotten herself lost in thought. Just over a week ago, she'd been a miserable Leaf kunoichi. Now here she was, _complaining_ to her once-enemy, laying down in what she assumed was her now-shared room. Sakura got stuck on the fact that she'd been complaining. She learned not to anymore. All that would happen if she'd complained was that it would be completely ignored and that no one cared. No one cared that she was depressed, or that someone she'd loved died. Or that she'd gotten strange, un-healable pain in her chest that she had to take pain killers for, which she had to perscribe herself. The word _caring_ didn't seem to apply to her from her friends, family or even boyfriend.  
She had to run away just to get someone to possibly care. But she didn't run away from her home for attention. Sakura ran away to finally be free. And, strangely she found it in a group of elite criminals.  
"Sakura?" Sasori gulped from saying her name again. Why was a lump growing in his throat the more she stared at him?

She blinked her eyes, shaking the capturing thoughts from her head and fixating her sights on something else. The bed. _That_ would work. "Sorry," she mumbled "got a bit lost in thought."  
It was then, she noticed she was pretty damned hungry. Her stomach was churning with want, far past the point of growling at her. From need to desperation. Seemed fitting.  
Sasori understood right away and stood up, walking over to Sakura and helping her onto her feet. She tried hiding her blush and embarrassment as she wobbled, leaning against him, stretching her limbs at the same time and groaning a bit from how good it felt.  
Sasori felt a small smirk light his face, "You'll have to buy me dinner first.." he teased.  
She only blushed more, attempting to stand up on her own (failing rather obviously) and looked away as she mumbled again. "I'm sorry."  
He wrapped his arm under hers and around her waist to hold her up straight before he started walking the both of them out of there room and into the hallway. "Why?"  
"What?"  
"Why are you always sorry?"  
Sakura's eyebrows curved down. She hadn't apologized _that_ much. "I just... am." she stared down the wooden steps they'd stopped infront of, wondering how hard it would be to get down without falling. "After a while, I realized I'm just a bother to everyone. And I'd hate myself even more if I didn't apologize for the things I bothered people with."  
Sasori stopped in their tracks, a bit annoyed with how she thought of herself. _No one_ should think like that. As soon as she started to let go of him and reach for the railing, he pulled her back toward him and picked her up entirely off of the floor, the nook of her legs resting in one of his arms and her back on the other. She stuttered at this. "Well, I'll say this early-on, then. Since we'll be partners, and since we're more than likely going to be spending some time together, I'm a very blunt person."  
She held onto him by his shoulders still whispering stutters, half-listening to him.  
"If you're bothering me, I'll tell you." He descended down the stairs with the weak kunoichi in his arms, trying not to pay attention to the fact that her face was in his neck. "If you should be sorry, or apologize to me; I'll tell you." he'd reached the bottom step but didn't bother putting her down and instead started for the kitchen, still carrying her. "I hate to wait and I hate to make people wait. But I'll only be bothered by you making me wait if it's for a totally useless matter."  
Sakura was now silent, a bit tense in his arms as he turned a corner of the hallway and into an open door, showing the large, strangely home-like kitchen.  
Sasori sat the girl down on the counter and made sure she was completely steady before he let her go "Have you gotten what I said into your head?" He stared at her emotionlessly and waited for her to nod before he started walking down to the very far end of the room.

The length of the room was incredible. There was a big island-counter connecting along the walls. Everything was a dim blue-colored tile. There were two fridges. One was labelled _Normal people. _And the other was labeled _Yeah, fuck you, too._ This made Sakura snicker.  
Sasori turned his head and cocked an eyebrow, "The fridges?"  
She nodded, smiling.  
He quickly turned his head to the refrigerators to let himself smile. "The fridge on the right is Hidan's. The other one's a bit stuffed, I think."  
It was then Deidara walked in. "Hey chicky, you're up, un!" he called from the doorway, walking over to Sakura and rubbing her back. "How are you feeling? Un."  
She smiled at him and nodded, "Not too bad. Sasori's making sure of that."  
Deidara looked across the room, finding his danna and raising his visible eyebrow. "You seem to be quite caring, un."  
Sasori said nothing back to him, just continued to look into the _normal_ fridge before taking things out and doing what he could to make a meal.  
Sakura watched him take odds and ends of meat and vegetables and put it onto some bread.  
Deidara called over to him, "Make me one, too! Un."  
Sasori simply glared back at the man over his shoulder before going back to his work.  
She sat there enjoying the friendship between the two before deciding to speak up. "Anything new? Is there any work for us?"  
The blonde-hared man sat and thought about it for a second before his eye lit up with remembrance. "Oh! Yes. Nothing much. He's trying you two out as partners and you especially as a new member, un. Someone owes the Akatsuki something and seems to have run away with it, or something, un. Pein wants you to track them down and retrieve it."  
Sakura nearly shied away. "Are... we supposed to kill them?"  
Sasori looked her way once she said that, a bit worried. She didn't seem the murdering type.  
Wait. _Why_ should he be worried. He scoffed at himself. Finishing off the sandwich and closing the bread, he put it on a plate and started walking over towards her and Deidara. "That'll probably be more up to us. _And_ them." Sasori told her, handing her the sandwich and leaning on the counter with his back towards the two.  
Deidara simply hopped up onto the counter next to her and ruffled her hair with his hand.  
"Don't you dare lick me with that, Deidara." Sakura smiled, and then smiled even wider when she realized she had friendship again, enjoying the sandwich that was made for her whether it had strange pieces of who-knows-what or not. "Thank you, Sasori."  
Sasori kept his face away, mumbling a "No problem" and walked back towards the fridge. Didn't want his face to give anything away. Not that he himself knew what it would even give away. He just knew it mustn't be seen.

The day went on like that. Deidara tacked onto the two of them, most likely eager to get away from Tobi. It was easy to get used to the place and fall into the habit of going to the library with her newly befriended co-workers. The boys. _Her_ boys.  
Sakura smiled at the thought, but then immediately wiped that off of her face. Last time she had _her boys_ they left her. "Why wouldn't they leave me..." she mumbled to herself.  
"What?" asked Sasori. "Your emotions have been going a bit crazy in the last two minutes," he then put his hand on her head, petting it awkwardly and trying to show affection. "At least your face has."  
Sakura looked ahead of her and found her and her partner in one of the training rooms they'd found on the lower floors. "Nothing. Just trying not to over think things."  
Sasori frowned at this. He didn't know why. Shouldn't really be any of his business.  
Off in the distance, Deidara was sitting against the wall, sculping something tiny out of his clay.  
"You're not gonna blow anything up, are you?" Sakura shouted over at him with a smile. "I mean if you're gonna knock the tower down I'd like to get a couple of things out of my room first."  
Deidara chuckled and beamed at her, looking at the tiny figure in his hand first before standing up and jogging over to her and Sasori, holding out his hand. "This clay is quite safe, un."  
Sasori closed his eyes before he could look at it and went over to a large wooden pole, a thick cloth wrapped around it to soften the blows of any punches or kicks it may receive, being in a training area. He decided to really test out his limbs for the first time, and threw a punch towards it.  
Sakura had her eyes on the beautiful, small sculpture of a branch with cherry blossoms bunched around it. "That's beautiful, Deidara..." she complimented, smiling a real smile, looking up at him. "Thank you so much."  
He seemed bashful, looking down and smiling as he brought it closer looking at it. Sakura looked a little closer unknowingly. She thought she saw a blush on his visible cheek.  
"It's for you. But it needs to harden, first. And then I'd like to paint it, un. Other wise it looks like a bland twig."  
She noted how Deidara was very critical of his art. And so did Sasori. This confused him. He appeared next to Sakura and looked at Deidara, ignoring how he was quite a bit shorter. "Wasn't it your words that real art should 'go out with a bang'?" his eyebrow lifted. "Unless you plan on breaking this."  
Deidara's eyebrows furrowed. "No, un!" he started walking back towards his book and clay pouch. "I figured it as... a welcoming present. It's as fragile as she is right now. It..." he huffed, "fits, un."  
Sakura observed the two. Sasori was smirking and Deidara seemed flustered about something. Nostalgia overwhelmed her, and she smiled once again before going over to the same wooden post that Sasori had hit.  
"What are you doing?" Sasori asked, staying close to her. "You could barely get out bed this morning. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have much strength to train like this."

She ignored him, still a bit angry with her weakness, and attempted to channel what little chakra she had through her fist. Pulling it back and punching the wooden post infront of her with what should have been enough force to send the top half of the post flying into the wall across the room. Sakura sighed when it didn't even budge, not noticing she'd almost fallen over when Sasori was holding her up by her waist.  
"You okay? Un." Deidara yelled from across the room.  
Sakura was silent for a minute from the concern of the two of them. It confused her. "Yes. Thank you." She tried steadying herself and standing up straight but Sasori kept his arm around her firmly.  
"You need rest and relaxation and maybe try _not_ using your chakra. I felt that."  
She kept glaring at the post and nodded with a huff. Sakura decided to go and sit down next to Deidara, holding Sasori's hand and leading him there as it seemed he had to be attached to her one way or another. She noticed that the ground she sat on was a mixture of cracked stone, grass and weeds. It smelled nice. The air was clean, too. The sound of the steady wind outside of the tower and the warmth she was getting from sitting inbetween the two men relaxed her.

And thus, she fell asleep on someone's shoulder.

A/N: Hi. I know it's not much... and nothing _really_ happened in this. Some relationship and character building. I don't know if (whoever's reading this) you're here for the relationship/romance or the story progression or both. But I'm trying to work on both and a lot of stuff in my own life has been going on lately. I seem to be projecting Sakura's personality as my own. If she'd had her mind broken like that I think this is what she'd be like. I'm going through my own long-term relationship, and I think a lot on it while I write, so I'm trying hard not to be too lovey dovey.  
I know she isn't entirely Sakura-esque. All hot-headed and, well, frankly annoying. She's not supposed to be. If she were to leave her whole culture behind and move onto greater, more evil things, she'd definitely have a personality change.  
Sasori will be going through some changes as well, having his emotions back in full force and going back to more of a mind-set of the young hormonal body he's in.


End file.
